As I watched my defenseless mother's form, I looked upon Lightless' beautiful shape as she rode through the sky upon her dark horse Hrimfaxi. When she went out of my view, I looked upon the darkness she left behind. It did not take long for me to acknowledge that there were no stars in Jotunheim only pure darkness, this was my normal, I had not known any other, and if I did see the stars, perhaps in my infancy then I definitely would have remembered because my hugr or mind in a simpler word is stronger than most ordinary beings at the very least.

  Nevertheless, I stood close to her and watched for any unnatural changes to her hamr or body to the untrained as she descended further into her trance, I have seen none so far but it is only wise to prepare for the worst, Still, the deeper she went the more concerned I grew not because I thought that she could not go farther than I could, no, I knew for a fact that she could go farther than I could even in her advanced age, I am concerned for the strain upon her hugr such an endeavor would entail.

  And despite my pessimistic attitude, I have to at least pretend to be positive as I suspect that my constant thinking about her is what is keeping her focused on returning to the waking world, yes, me, her son of course I would be on her mind when she performs seidr, not any of her other children, no, no only me.

  Anyway, my pathetic lack of self-worth aside, I doubt my mother would want to know the only child she has left thinks so lowly of himself, so I will escape to other thoughts for now, like what goes on in the land of álfheimr and Nieavellir, home to the elves and dwarves, respectively.

  Frustratingly little is known of the elves of álfheimr, which gives me the perfect excuse to make up whatever bullshit I want to believe, and while that is freeing it is infuriating because I genuinely want to about them, but anger is without explanation, is useless so I began imagining a scenario of sorts to further explain my frustration.

  There is a house atop a hill, I know where the house is, I know what it looks like, and I know the name of the owners, I even know what the owners of the house look like but I do not know what goes on in that house, I have heard of what goes on in the house but whenever I try to ask anyone and begin even the slightest investigation, it is as if the universe has taken a vow of silence and refuses to even acknowledge the existence of the house, so if the universe seeks to hide the house from me, I will imagine the version of the house that I can understand but the house is still there waiting for me to find out mor about it.

  The anger stirring within me right now is but a fraction of the anger I have whenever I think about álfheimr but I calmed down upon realizing that its brother realm Nieavellir is more well known, of course not much is known about that realm either but at least I have a clearer understanding of what the dwarves do down there.

  Nevertheless, despite my wandering thoughts and the amount of time that passed, it is genuinely unsettling how long my mother has been in this state and if I did not know any better, I would have thought that she died, soon after Dellingr, father of Dagr and husband of Lightless, arose from the horizon bringing the dawn with him and at that moment my mother woke up from her trance.

  Of course, it was a slow awakening, as she had been using seidr for a very long time, so she was getting used to controlling her hamr after being in a still position for so long, but while regaining control of her hamr, It seems that her hugr had been somewhat retarded as when she turned to me she looked at me as if she did not realize who I was even though this was not the first time that she had seen me in the form of a wolf.

  Then she looked at me more closely, and her eyes suddenly widened with clarity as she asked me, "Hróevitnir, is that you?" I did not hesitate to immediately put a stop to whatever misunderstanding she had, and since I could not speak to her, I shook my head as a sign of disapproval, not that I could fault her for misunderstanding because, for whatever reason, my wolf form greatly resembled that of my lupine brother though several sizes smaller.

  My mother seemed to misunderstand my expression as she continued speaking to me under false impressions. "Since the Aesir have been kind enough to release you, let us go hunting as we did before they took you from me." Seeing as I could not convince my mother of anything else, I decided to go along with her delusion, if only to give her some semblance of what she once had.

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  So I used my sense of smell to find game. After a short journey, we found that our nearest game was an unintelligent bear cub playing with it's sibling, we could easily take these cubs as our prize and eat it but for the role I was playing I needed to go after a bigger prize and that was their injured mother, a far more dangerous beast and when injured it is even more so but playing my brother's character I licked my lips in anticipation for the challenge. However, when I turned to my mother, she frowned for reasons unknown to me.

  Then immediately my mother chanted a galdr or spell to the ignorant to weaken the bear and in quick succession she chanted another galdr to bind the sow in place and and much like when she performed seidr she needed neither ritual nor medium to accomplish this task, only her voice and that was a level of prowess that I aspire to reach but right now I had a role and that was to kill this bear and that is what was i did, i reached the sow in the blink of an eye and soon i gave the killing blow but before we could make leave with our haul a stranger appeared from the brush.

  The stranger stood before me, his youthful visage hinting at the remarkable young man he would become in adulthood. He had a lean, athletic build that suggested both agility and strength. He wore a fur cloak that not only protected him from the cold but also revealed his weapon at his left hip, which was a finely crafted sword that hung steadily from its hilt, which was adorned with intricate designs that caught the light, while a bow rested casually on his left shoulder, its polished wood glistening under the sun. His hair was a striking shade of gold, and his green eyes reminded me of lush plant life of other realms, the complete opposite of Jotunheim's dead plant life.

  The boy looked at my mother with a cold expression on his handsome face. and when he turned to me, his face remained frozen, but from his eyes, I saw a hint of both recognition and surprise. Still, the boy spoke to us with a mature voice and tone that did not match his young age "I have chased this sow for several days, dealt many injuries to it with my arrows and yet you were ones to deal the final blow, so please let us come to an accord and divide this creature amongst ourselves v?lva, though I suspect that beast of yours will take the majority of it."

  I immediately stood in front of my mother and growled at the young boy, the boy frowned and said, "It seems that your beast did not appreciate my attempt of banter and i understand that it was bad but if your beast goes further than growling or barking, I will take it as an attack upon me and as you can see v?lva, I am well equipped to defend myself in combat so chose wisely, woman." The boy put his hand on his hilt to show his seriousness.

  I continued growling, as that is what my brother would have done in this situation, but my mother put her hand up telling me to stop, and that is what I did. Then, looking at the stranger, she said with her voice revealing her exhaustion. "Forgive me stranger, my child only sought to protect me from wild beasts and he doesn't yet realize that you are not one of them and as for the sow, it is only just your reward for such a difficult hunt, and besides there are plenty of beasts in the forest of Járnvier to feed us all so please pardon us and we will leave you be."

  "Thank you, v?lva," the boy said, carrying his prize away with surprising strength as he walked into the snow before he disappeared into it.

  This encounter effectively killed our hunger as we built a small fire that burned brightly. We gathered around it, enjoying each other's company in silence until she finally said, "You can reveal yourself now, Fróei."

  Of course, I instantly changed back into my comfortable human form, and then I immediately started coughing blood. Seeing this, my mother had instantly chanted a galdr that dulled my pain until I did not feel it anymore. I still coughed blood, but it was bearable, and I could manage at least a conversation before I grew tired.

  "How long have you known Mother?"

  "Since I when I suggested we go hunting."

  "And you did not see fit for me to dispel the illusion."

  "I wanted to enjoy what I once had long ago," she said with a hint of regret in her voice, as if asking for forgiveness.

  "So what did you see, mother, while you used seidr?" I said, switching the topic.

  "I saw many things, my child. I witnessed you becoming a great sorcerer, comparable to the Allfather himself. I saw you embark on magnificent adventures across the nine realms, wielding a magnificent staff while slaying monsters and undead abominations. I saw you married and happy with your partner, even though you never had children. I saw you meet gods, elves, dwarves, and giants along the way. I glimpsed you at your peak, a wondrous being with hair as white as snow and blue eyes reflecting the deep ice of Niflheim, although that was far into the future."

  "And what of you, mother?"

  "I saw my journey end, surrounded by my children in both flesh and spirit, happy as I could ever be."

  "The Nornir are kind to weave such a beautiful fate for you, mother," I said as I slowly fell into Nott's comforting embrace, but before I fully fell asleep, I heard my mother say.

  "No matter how kind fate may seem to us, my child, never forget that Evil is the Decree of the Nornir."